Colors That Have Never Been Seen
by Mini Nephthys
Summary: A few minutes later, the world ends. Archer x Rin, slight HF and Zero spoilers.


**Author's Note**: I'm not very familiar with the rest of the Nasuverse, this is probably completely impossible, and I don't care so you don't need to tell me. I _like_ afterlifefic.

* * *

Archer returns to the Throne with his swords still clenched tight in his hands. Out of habit, and despite knowing that any wounds he had were now gone, he checks himself for any permanent damage. Nothing.

Other Counter Guardians fade back into inexistence around him.

A few minutes later, the world ends.

* * *

It is not much unlike the Throne, Archer thinks. Except that if the Throne had been a waiting room for until he was sent out again, this nothingness is a destination, a place he cannot leave. And Gaia has ceased to exist. Fittingly, the cancer she tried to remove from the world is still there.

Souls float around him, in varying states of confusion and shock. Most of them are normal people who had no idea that a battle was being fought for the earth itself. A few he recognizes as Magi, from their knowing expressions and mutterings of, "So, we lost."

But if they were here, then-

He closes his eyes and wills himself where he wants to be.

* * *

Rin starts at his approach, disbelief written clearly in her eyes. "A...Archer? Is that really…?"

He takes in a breath. It's been no more than five years since the Grail War, but Rin has already grown into a beautiful woman. Once he finds his voice he tells her, "It's me, Rin."

"Archer…" she repeats in a soft voice, staring across at him instead of up at him. "Why? I'm… not your Master anymore."

Archer sighs inwardly. She had to ask? "That doesn't matter. I'd say you meant the world to me, but…" His lips quirk up in a small smile. "That doesn't mean as much now, does it?"

She snorts, worries forgotten. "Your morbid sense of humor hasn't changed, I see."

"It's the end of the world, Rin: I don't think it's out of place," he reminds her.

"No, I guess not." Reassured, she smiles at him. "I'm glad you're here, Archer."

He blinks, surprised, before letting his own smile widen. "So am I, believe me. So am I."

* * *

It is a peaceful kind of nonexistence. Every so often - time has no meaning here - he checks up on his old friends, although he does not reveal his presence to them. He isn't ready to explain who he is, what he was.

He never stays for very long, and when he leaves he always returns to Rin, easily falling back into the pattern of Master-and-Servant.

Once, he runs into the Emiya family all together. If they were anywhere else, there wouldn't be a room large enough for all of them: Shirou and Sakura chuckling at Illya, who's begging for a piggyback ride; Kiritsugu indulging her; Irisviel laughing at the pair; and Rider watching all of this with a quiet smile on her face. Even Taiga is there, warning Kiritsugu of the dangers of spoiling little girls, but she's grinning while she says it.

It's a scene of pure domestic bliss, and Archer lingers for a little while, committing it to memory.

As he turns to go, he thinks he sees Kiritsugu glance in his direction, but he could have been mistaken.

* * *

Rin is not without her share of visitors.

Shirou drops by often. He and Archer settled their disputes in life - and there isn't much point in attacking a dead man - so now they simply bicker with each other until Rin orders them to stop.

Sometimes Sakura is with him. Other times she comes alone, or brings her mother along, or her 'uncle'. Never both at once, though Rin swears that they'll sort out whatever happened between them one of these days. Death has cured all other ills, and they are as they were before the Fourth Grail War changed their lives completely, and in Kariya's case, ended it.

Even if he is no longer part of the Emiya family, he is rapidly becoming part of the Tohsaka one.

* * *

After Aoi leaves, Rin makes a disgruntled sound, blush slowly fading off her cheeks. "I can't believe she thought that you were… we were…"

Is it that repugnant to her, that she can't even say the word?

"It's an easy mistake to make, Rin," he replies.

Her eyes narrow at him. "Why do you say that?"

Because I do care about you, Archer thinks. Because she's your mother, and she knows when someone feels that way for her daughter - maybe even better than that someone does.

He doesn't say either of those things. The way things are now is more than he ever dreamed of, more than he deserves - he won't ruin it and make things awkward for them both. If there was any woman capable of keeping a grudge for all eternity, it was Rin.

So instead, he says, "Having your Servant meet your family isn't exactly traditional. A lot of Magi view Servants as tools rather than people, and they wouldn't want to have anything to do with them after the War ended."

"So just because I view you as a human being, that means we're dating?" she asks bluntly.

"…That, and she's your mother and it's her duty to assume you're involved with any man you're on speaking terms with," he adds.

Rin sighs. "So I'm doomed."

"Unless you tell her you're never seeing me again for the rest of eternity… probably," he admits.

"Hmm…" To his dismay, Rin almost looks like she's considering it for a second. Then she bursts into laughter. "I… I'm sorry, but the look on your face…" she says, in between snickers.

Archer knows he could never survive without Rin, but at that moment he seriously thinks about taking a few years' vacation.

* * *

"I didn't expect the end of the world to be this… idyllic," she tells him. "If we had known, do you think we still would have tried to stop it?"

"Probably," he answers. "We're material creatures, and floating eternally with nothing but other people to amuse us isn't that appealing. In fact, we'll probably get tired of it in a few centuries. If we're lucky, we'll go insane."

"Thank you for that depressing comment, Archer," she replies. "But it's still better than what you were doing, isn't it?"

"Of course," he agrees, not needing to even think about it.

She nods her head, lost in thought. "If… If I had been reincarnated, I wouldn't have ever gotten to see you again," she murmurs. "…I guess I wouldn't have known the difference, but you…"

Something in his expression must have given him away, because she hastily adds an excuse. "D-Don't get me wrong! I wouldn't want the end of the world just so you could be happy, or anything like that. That'd be ridiculous."

"Rin," he says.

"And, and another thing," she continues. "I don't keep you around here because I like you or anything! I just, it's really boring when you're not around. That's all."

"Rin," he says again, and kisses her.

Rin makes a small sound of surprise, but doesn't push him away as he feared. After a moment, she begins to respond to the kiss, hesitantly wrapping her arms around him.

She breaks the kiss, looking shocked but not angry. "A-Archer, what was…?"

Archer just smiles.

They have eternity, after all.


End file.
